Here’s 9 stocks for scalpers
The Dow was extremely volatile
today and closed down a whopping 133 points. As we head into expiration tomorrow
I will keep most of my focus on the oil, gas, and energy sectors as they
provided me with ample trading opportunities.
Encana Corp
(
ECA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the most active stock
for me today and repeatedly came up on my scanner. Encana is North Americas
largest gas producer and midway through the trading day my newsreader came up
with a rumor that ECA could possibly be the target for a take over.
I immediately pulled up ECA on my market maker
and realized that it was heavily crossed up. I crossed up ECA as well and sent a
number of limit and market orders to the NYSE. It was at this point that I got
filled and ECA continued to be crossed up way above my fill price of 49.50. By
reading the tape you could definitely tell that there was a short squeeze in ECA
and people were aggressively trying to cover their short positions as well as
establishing long positions.
Since ECA was so volatile and swinging around in
½ points I immediately took some profit at $51.50. Once ECA failed to sell off
and break the $50.50 I went long again when large buyers began appearing in the
NYSE openbook. I was able to actively trade in and out of ECA for a couple more
points. Once ECA topped $54.95 and failed to break the $55.00 mark I leaned on
the offer at $55 and went short.
Since ECA was so strong I took quick profits
because I did not want to risk ECA gapping up a point and giving away some of my
hard earned profits. ECA began selling off more heavily and definitely lacked
the strength and fortitude that it was showing earlier in the day. For some
reason large sellers were showing up in the NYSE openbook and my scanner was
showing ECA as crossed down. I looked for an opportunity to get short in
anticipation of ECA filling in some of the squeeze from earlier on in the day.
With sellers showing up and the market selling off I decided to remain with the
trend and added to my short. ECA ended up selling off down to $48.55 and was an
absolute dream to trade.
If you look at a 5-minute chart of ECA you will
see how ECA established a couple of trends through out the day. Later on in the
day ECA came out with a statement dispelling any notion of a company takeover
and I assume that is why it sold off.
With Options Expiration going on today I will
continue to look at ECA,
(
XOM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and
(
VLO |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Some other stocks that I will be looking at to
have some movement are
(
PFE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
RSH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
WYE |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and
(
XRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). PFE was
also an excellent trader today and I will look at
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for
possible set ups as well. LLY could set up for a nice sell through $51.00. PFE
could Sell off through the day low our possibly bounce back and fill in some of
the gap if we have a rally.
Mike Kestler
Please e-mail with any
questions you might have at
mkestler@evotrading.com
Michael Kestler is a
full-time professional trader and managing partner for Evolution Capital LLC., a
proprietary trading firm. Mr. Kestler specializes in intraday trading of NYSE
listed stocks.
Before founding Evolution Capital LLC., Michael began his career on the floor of
the CBOE. Mr. Kestler was previously a Mid-Cap and Nasdaq Market Maker.
www.evotrading.com